91直播

Arizona was recently ranked third in the nation for economic momentum by State Policy Reports, which is a two-spot improvement from last year.

State Policy Reports is issued semi-monthly by Federal Funds Information, which analyzes the impact of federal activity in an effort to assist states in managing their federal funds.

The momentum is based on the state鈥檚 growth of personal income, employment and population, according to the report.

鈥淧ersonal income, employment and population growth–the way it works is that they鈥檙e all interrelated. We鈥檙e a state that is very attractive to individuals when our economy is healthy,鈥� said Jim Rounds, Rounds Consulting Group president.

As Arizona grows and more jobs become available, many of the state鈥檚 developments produce high-paying jobs.

鈥淣ow we鈥檙e starting to attract a new type of job, which is the higher wage jobs and that creates additional ripple effects in the economy that helps everybody. So, when you鈥檙e attracting the higher wage jobs you start to see better growth in personal income,鈥� Rounds said.

The universities and other research efforts contribute to Arizona鈥檚 creation of high-paying job opportunities.

The Phoenix Biomedical Campus and its Wexford Science and Technology building, , along with other developments are set to generate 7,000 new jobs in the health care and bioscience fields in 24 months.

Rounds explained that Arizona should continue to be responsible with its economic development programs and focus on building a quality workforce environment.

鈥淲e鈥檙e more maintaining a healthy economy rather than having to create this foundation from the beginning. It鈥檚 easier to maintain something. If you let things deteriorate, it can be very expensive to get it back in shape,鈥� Rounds explained.

Round said it is important to 鈥渒eep going with the policies we鈥檝e been implementing鈥� and set politics aside in an effort to figure out the best way to continuously improve the economy. 聽聽

鈥淚f we continue to focus on all these fundamental things that we鈥檝e been doing coming out of the governor鈥檚 office, even out of the Arizona Chamber [of Commerce and Industry], the work done by the Arizona-Mexico Commission, GPEC [Greater Phoenix Economic Council]- everybody鈥檚 kind of coming together and we鈥檙e working toward this quality component,鈥� Rounds said.

While Arizona was ranked third in the nation for economic momentum, the work to improve economic health is never done, according to Rounds. 聽

鈥淲hat we want to do is we want to keep improving our position,鈥� Rounds said. 鈥淪o, it鈥檚 not necessarily 鈥楢re we winning a basketball game?鈥� It鈥檚 more like playing golf. Can we improve our score each time we go out there and can we better ourselves?鈥�